Business communications, Summer

EmJeanRN, ASN, RN · May 25, 2013

I don't want to hijack the thread, but it does my heart good to see that there are some other "very seasoned" nurse doing this. I will have my 58th birthday in a week. Am hoping to get done before 60.
As they push these older nurses back to school, I think they should take into consideration the stress level that they are putting us under.
Hmm.... maybe a research project. I can see the headlines...
MANDATING BSN DEGREE FOR OLDER NURSES IS DETRIMENTAL TO THEIR HEALTH AND WELLBEING. "In a study completed by graduates of Ohio University's RN to BSN program, Researchers concluded that the idiotic busy work and relentless, demanding and nit-picking of TA's has serious health consequences to older nurses in the workforce. Sleep deprivation, lack of time for self-care practices, and loss of social support structures are cited as causative factors. Univeristies are encouraged to create less stressful programs with liberal credit for the years of life saving and expert nursing care they have provided."
How's that sound?

Excellent!! Use it as a DB post in one of your classes.

enuf_already · May 27, 2013

Cincinursemary you made me smile! I am one of those seasoned nurses who is feeling your pain! I have learned to sleep 4 hours a night, have no social life, and neglect myself. My neurons just don't fire as quickly as they did 30+ years ago ;-). What made it even worse is both universities I am attending this summer sent me emails about having fun and balancing fun and school. Really? What IS fun? Sleeping more than 4 hours?

I am happy to report that I am close to the finish line! It has been a long 2 years and 3 months and that was with doubling up on classes. Keep the pace Cinci and you will be at the finish line soon. Save that idea for your master's thesis;-). It's a good one!

woodsyny, MSN · May 28, 2013

It is good to see there are some more 'seasoned' nurses out there. I thought I was the only one with these young ones! :) enuf_already you give me hope, as does EmJean and cincinnursemary. I will be doing 3 classes at once. Business Communications isn't too bad......yet! Glad it is spread over 15 weeks though.

woodsyny, MSN · May 29, 2013

For students who have taken this already, did you do BOTH 10 point assignments in the course with professor 'difficult conversations"?

EmJeanRN, ASN, RN · May 29, 2013

Wish I could help you out with this one. My advice...use your instincts. They are likely on the right track.

You already have a good idea how the Prof grades your work. I think submitting something you are proud of

will get you the grade you want with this Prof. He does not nitpick things from my experience.

As for the DB posts. I was able to get humorous, and irreverent with some of them. One girl wrote a one sentence original DB post and I gently wrote about what a" Difficult Conversation" it was to have to inform her that her post did not contain enough information to make a sound judgement on what she had to offer as an opinion. She was the only DB post that had ZERO responses...so I decided to take it on...even though there was nothing really to respond to. I ended up with three solid paragraphs. I used techniques from the book to make the case.

For the rest of the class DB's I decided to respond to others who had zero responses. It became a writing challenge for me and I chose to be very creative in my responses, it really paid off and felt like I was not churning out the same old thing. It helped that I was not chained to APA citations. Everything could come from my own original thoughts.

rninme · May 30, 2013

For students who have taken this already, did you do BOTH 10 point assignments in the course with professor 'difficult conversations"?

Yes - I did all the assignments and skipped the extra credit. ended up with a 99% in the class. I did alot of p****** and moaning about this class but in hindsight, it wasn't all that bad. Do your final project on something you are really interested in. Mine was legal blood draws in the ED. Had never made a power point presentation before - so it was a learning experience that is going to serve me well in grad school. Good luck - PM me ... or email me and I will help.

woodsyny, MSN · Jun 6, 2013

This professor is just SO generic! Cannot imagine 12 more weeks of this. Asked him about the planning document we have to do and his response was " focus on improving communication with a specific person . This should be fun. Just not a lot of direction on what to do! :no:

woodsyny, MSN · Jun 6, 2013

Anybody who did this communication project from some communication problem at work have any words of wisdom?difficult coversations. has to be 1000 words I think

cincinursemary · Jun 7, 2013

Anybody who did this communication project from some communication problem at work have any words of wisdom?difficult coversations. has to be 1000 words I think

I had a situation with an aide that went off when I asked to talk to her because she was being disrespectful to me in front of other people. She was dismissive and had a chip on her shoulder. I found that I had to really work at not being reactive and remain calm. I used a lot of " I " statements, described the situation as objectively as I could, stated what I wanted in the future. She was really off the wall, and started screaming. It was awful. I actually had to tell her to leave or I would call security.

I don't know if that helps.

woodsyny, MSN · Jun 7, 2013

Thanks cincinnursemary. The planning document has to be 1200-2500 words with EIGHT references. I have problems with some people at work but not just one person to write that much about and have 8 references!

rninme · Jun 11, 2013

Sorry woodsyny - I had computer issues. Lost all files I had stored on computer but have my hard copies. Planning document I did - did not have references listed on it. sections were purpose for writing; audience; goals of information; etc. My 'difficult conversation' was in regards to nurse to nurse report from the ED to MS - with one difficult to communicate with co-worker. Identified the issue - didn't make it about him but rather how to improve the entire nurse to nurse report process.

rninme · Jun 11, 2013

Final document - references. difficult conversation book; ethics text; 2 other books I had that were aboutt difficult communications and conversations; 2 journal articles regarding patient safety during handoff, article from AHRQ about professional communications; 2 personal interviews; and the actual p & p from my institution. HTH